INPERSON
Twice the
Triumph
Two-time Brookline breast cancer survivor
inspires co-survivors to stay positive.
I
n 1996, at just 43 years old, Sheila Budner
learned that she was about to fight the
toughest battle of her life. After a routine
mammogram found a suspicious mass,
Sheila received the devastating news that she
had breast cancer.
As one can imagine, the diagnosis floored
her.
“I was shocked and very scared,” said
Sheila, who lives in Brookline. “I didn’t know
what to do or what to believe.”
Thankfully, the cancer was caught early
and hadn’t spread. Sheila had a lumpectomy
and then underwent six-and-a-half weeks
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of radiation, which, she said, was more of a
shock than the surgery itself.
“I was in the waiting area, and all of the
other patients just seemed so old to me,” she
said. Overcome with anxiety, she retreated
to the bathroom to cry. “I came out of the
bathroom after I told myself I had to do what
I had to do, and pulled myself together.”
Following treatment, Sheila was given a
clean bill of health. Along with her husband
Rick, they began volunteering and raising
money for Susan G. Komen Pittsburgh and
the Race for the Cure.
Repeated follow-up testing determined
that she was cancer-free, and each year, she
was excited to add one more year to her
survivorship.
Then, in 2010 – just shy of Sheila’s
15-year anniversary of being cancer free
– she learned, following another routine
mammogram, that the cancer had returned.
“I was so upset,” she said. “It still hurts
when I think about it. I wanted so badly to
be able to reach that 15th anniversary. It was
devastating.”
Following the re-diagnosis, Sheila
had a mastectomy and